Week before Turkey Day

So this weekend I finally took a day off.  I felt I needed it having drill last week.  I did meet with Kyle last week.  He was feeling overwhelmed and we talked and I helped coarse him into creating a master calendar for the art department.  I also told him that he needs to get it from the other AD's in the class to help with his calendar.  I also discussed an idea with him to have an Art request form for the art department.  I have been working on this and using Nate Daniels template for the equipment request form as a guide.  I showed up at 9pm the night after class to make sure things were going well.  I also contacted Jaime for Channing to let him know that we needed stuff on the site changed ASAP.  On friday Channing contacted me and asked me to work with Jaime on converting the website back to wordpress.  I made contact with Jaime and on Sunday he came over to my house and we converted it, only to be told to change it back by Channing later that night.  After that I told Channing to make a command decision and that not everyone will be happy.  Pretty much to pick Wordrpess or Dreamweaver.  I felt that Dreamweaver was the best way to go and if Channing gets together with Jaime and learns a little bit about it, she could have control and approve changes that he makes.  I feel that Channing needs to be the Director of the department and not be so wishy washy on subjects.  I feel this will have a major positive spin on the art department.  This is the way I wanted to lead it when I was in charge and I felt it would have worked out better.  This is the way I will be running my Operations team next semester.  Myself and Jaime spent about 2 hours at my house working on the website.  I also checked out the R16 from Nate Daniels to do sound experimenting with for Visions Film Festival and Conference for the day of the event.  I feel that by having a better sound it will help with the DVD.  I also had a meeting with Nate set up for thursday of last week.  I went in and asked about equipment including steady cam, lights and dimmers, sound mixers, camera's and everything that I wasn't sure about for the day of the event.  The meeting went well and I feel we will be able to put out a better DVD.  I want the lights to help make the presenters and Q and A panels up front  to be brighter.  The R16 will give us a master sound that will allow us to control levels and have great audio of Q and A, Keynote, and anyone else who needs to talk.  I am working on setting up a master DVD process for the day of the event or an iTunes playlist for the event.  More will come after I do more research.  If I am lucky enough I may be able to talk to Monika Moreno this week and get some feedback on operations.

11-18-13 This Week So far... Here comes CPL Keefe

This last week I went through my job discretion and made a blogger for everything that is included in my job and what it means to me.  This way it will HELP me know what to do when I prepare for a master schedule for the remainder of the year.  The job discretion blog took me about an hour to do.  I think everyone should be doing this.  I also made my project's  for Volunteers and Digital Arts Race contest.  These took about an Hour of planning and then blogging about 30 minutes to retype what I had planned.  During drill this weekend I meet several people from different film schools in the area including SCAD UNCG, Elon, NC School of Arts who are all now interested in submitting to Visions for this year.  I have posters to be sent to individuals at UNCG and NC School of the Arts to hang in the schools to help raise awareness.  I also talked to SSG Brandon Stephens who has worked operations at a small film festival at NC School of the arts when he attended and he gave me some tips and pointers of what to do and what to expect.  I will be doing the walk through of Lumina with Matt Goslet this Wednesday morning at 10am.  I will have questions ready and ask Shannon to view over them next class to make sure I didn't miss anything.  This week I will be presenting my Pitch's for my projects to get class feedback tomorrow.  I will be making a power point for each one with half the slide one and the other side the next project.  I will follow the 12 steps planning on each slide to present the project.    I also did a lot of thinking when I was out there about my leadership style.  I feel that I need to be hard on deadlines and make people know when they need to get their butts in gear.  Reflecting on my Art Department Failure, I spread myself way to thin and worked to much on the website and ignored my team.  I also did not want to crack the whip and be like WTF to my team for not doing their work.  I try to not be an ass to people but it is starting to get crazy with people not doing their work on a high enough level.  Next semester my team will be on top of everything.  I will be doing all of the pre operations this semester so next semester everything will be  smooth sailing.  I will have my team a master schedule of when I expect work to be done and in what format.  I really do not want this festival to be a B+ festival.  I want this festival to be an A+ festival.  I want everyone to look back and say "Yeah I was a part of Visions 4".

Operations Directors

• Supervises the Facilities & Guest Informations Coordinator, Registration Coordinator and Volunteer Coordinator.
• Make sure my team is running smooth at all times. Make sure any needs that they have are taken care of ahead of my own needs. Make sure everything including Volunteers and Registration is running smoothly.
• Supervises the creation and administration of project schedules and budgets.  
• Have a master schedule for everything the entire day of what is going on in Lumina, Registration and Volunteers. For inside of lumina have a master schedule for everything that will be going on to a +/-5 minute increments. Include when to stage set up for after screenings and what will be on the screen for after the films and during the Q and A sections.
• Creates and manages the overall departmental calendar.

• Make sure the Team has a very full and functing calendar that will have due dates for everything through out the semester. Over Christmas break go through and prepare calendar and first week back meet with Shannon to go over Timeline created for all Operations.
• Utilizes good communication skills and time management skills to ensure that all projects are done in a professional and timely manner.
  
  

  Make sure My team and myself act in a professional manner at all times. Make sure that my team knows of all planning and they have had rehearsals, backup plans incase of technology fails, alternatives scheduled in case volunteers are no shows.

• Function as a location manager.
  
  

  Be the team leader I was in Afghanistan. Make sure my team is the best team at the event and everyone knows that. We are responsible for the Success or Failure of this event.

• Arrive at venue at least two hours prior to first screening and remain until after last film is over and emptied the theatre.
  
  

  Have my team there at 630 am the day of the event. Also have tech run the night before the film makers and scholars meal. Have equipment Set up and ready to run that morning.

• Organizes all Operations department meetings, takes attendance, and turns in attendance reports and evaluations to Festival Director at the beginning of each month;
  
  

  Create and talk to Shannon about previous systems that can be used to keep track of attendance. See about possibility of having barcodes on back of passes and possible scanning devise to read them. That way we will have an accurate count of who comes to what event and how many people total come to the event.

• Works with Programming/Traffic Director and Lumina Theater to assess and plan for all necessary technical requirements and equipment procurement for the screening venues, including projectors, lighting, sound, Q&A tables/chairs/mics;
  
  

  Make sure Myself and me team are on the same sheet of music as Matts team. That way we will be a cohesive squad and it will run smooth. My team will be the lead on the equipment inside of Lumina setting up. We must also make sure that Traffic is good and ready to go in for Matts team. We must have a backup plan incase Matt or someone in Matts team is sick the day of the event. We must have everyone in each team cross trained in each other jobs, so that we can jump in and help if need be.

• Works with Programming/Traffic and Lumina Theater to ensure that all Festival trailers, bumpers, and slides are played before their respective block;
  
  

  Use master schedule for Lumina as stated in previous bullet. I will create a master schedule that will include all times and the whole day of what will be playing. I will also want the Projectionist to be present during the tech rehearsals so that I can have a good understanding of what is expected of him.

• Work closely with the Programming Department before the festival to coordinate theater logistics, staffing needs and flow.
  
  

  Get together with Matt when he lets me know his free times. Make sure a Master Meeting schedule is there for my team and Matts Team to meet during the semester.

• Coordinates all operations with theatre projectionists, house managers, and theatre staff including opening houses, starting films/video, tech hours, sponsor slideshow, cuing mics and lights for intros and Q&A’s, emptying houses, setting up chairs, mics, and tables for panels;
  
  

  
  

• Acquiring the necessary equipment and rental items prior to the festival including banners, signs, director/scholar’s chairs, pipe and drape
  
  

  I will meet with Channing Duke to see if she had a list of all equipment that was used during the last festival. I will then at that time go through the list with Nate and set up in advance the make sure all the equipment is ready and available.

• Works with Marketing and Development Teams to make sure all sponsorship banners are properly on display and all sponsorship slides are correct before projection.
  
  

  I will work with Jill to make sure every Major Sponsor's Logo is in the right spot. I will also ask her to come to the Tech Rehearsal so that we can plan the sponsor loge's.

• Securing the correct number of director/scholar chairs and waters for panels and Q&A’s
• Adhering to all signage needs inside theater, including VIP seating (sponsors, filmmakers/scholars, visiting guests)
  
  

  Once we have the total number of film makers and scholars nailed down and confirmed that they are coming I will have the number of Chairs and Microphones ready. I will Have a volunteer that is willing to do this as his/her main job.

• Coordinating fastidious timing of set-up and breakdown of equipment and signage inside theater
  
  

  Get together with group in order to make sure that everything is set up. I feel that the entire class should come to the Tech Rehersal and set up. This will allow us for easy set up. I will also ask for the volunteers who are working the last shift to help clean up and gather equipment. This will be scheduled out before the event so persons in the class will know they must stay around and help my team set up and take down stuff. I feel that if we have Half the Class before and Half the Class after, not including those on After Party or driving Film Makers and Scholars to the after party. I also want to see if we could use one or two of the UNCW Vans for the day of the event. This will cut down on Traffic and allow the filmmakers and class to drive to the event together, the after party, and to the hotel safely the night after the event.

• Acting as point person for any signage that needs to be created, corrected, or relocated inside theater
• Discuss sponsorship signage with Development and Marketing Directors to insure compliance with Sponsor requirements.
• Manage and coordinate the display of VISIONS and sponsorship signage, banners, and filmmaker/scholar posters
• Managing a team of volunteers to set-up and breakdown at the various sites
  
  

  Make sure the volunteer Cordinator has master schedule for all volunteer's and alternatives.

• Ensure that screenings start on time, are emptied and cleaned promptly and guests are
• informed of any delays.
  
  

  All will be informed and will use the master schedule for the day of the event.

• Liaise and coordinate with ACE Volunteer ushers as necessary.
• After the screening, coordinate with the projection booth for the Q&A, making sure microphones are operational and keeping time for the programming representative and alerting them as to when the Q&A needs to end to start the next screening on time.
• Arrive at venue at least two hours prior to first screening and remain until after last film is over and emptied the theatre.
• Manage videography and photo teams inside Lumina Theater.
  
  

  Will use someone in the class to insure that all memory cards and batteries are ready and will make rounds every 2 hours to make sure and to give new supplies. They will also download the footage from each card each time to a computer and put in approbate folder for each camera.

• Coordinate and lead on-site tour for all VISIONS staff prior to April 1, 2014.
  
  

  I will communicate with the Lumina Head for this to happen in the middle of March. This way everyone can see what we are dealing with and we will have time as a class to go through and help toss ideas and planning around so that we will have a perfect plan A and B in place before the festival.

• Manage and execute the Audience Award balloting system and oversee collection and final count with the Programming and Awards staff.
  
  

  Look into cell phone voting and make sure it will happen. Also have backup plan of paper voting. Meet with Awards voting and make sure the main system will work for them in that they will be tallying the vote and announcing the winners

• Perform walk through pre and post vent to ensure that site has been cleaned and left in excellent condition.  
  
  

  Leave the theater as we found the theater, if not better.

Digital Arts Project

1. Identify the "What":  The project is a contest to help get the digital Arts Minors and Computer Science department involved in the Visions Film Festival and Conference.  I want to have a contest for creating bumpers so that we can get submissions and the winning bumpers will be shown between the films or during the breaks of the festival so that something is always showing on the screen. The winners names will also be shown with their bumpers during the festival so that they will get the recognition  they deserve.  This will also make people from the CS and DA departments of UNCW come to the event.
2.  Who is the Customer?  Visions Film Festival and Conference will be the customer.  This will also save us time in that we will not have to have a student in the class make a mulitple bumpers for the festival.  This will allow us to always have something on the screen during the festival as well.
3.  What are the deliverables?  The bumpers will be what will be delivered.   We will use VIMEO.com for the submissions and allow them to be password protected.  This will allow us to download the files and use them as an H.264 for a .mov or .mp4 which will be the best formats for the day of the event and for the DVD.
4.  The budget for the contest will be the same as the Volunteer Project.  With the Winners they will get a T-Shirt from the event and a badge.  It will also cost more in food to feed them they day of the event because we will have to treat them like our film makers and scholars.  This could also help make more money if more people come out and support the festival such as friends and family's of the bumper makers come to see their work.  We will need a page on the website for them to enter for the contest as well as a few posters to post around campus and an email attachment to send to the Digital Arts and Computer Science Departments.
5.  This project will take about 2.5 months.  I want to start working on the project the same time I am working on volunteer project.  I will start to make contact and work on the project over christmas break.  I will begin the push for the submissions by 2-1-14.  This way it will go until 3-15-14.  This way we can pick the winners and post them on the site and get the confirmation from them that they will be attending.
6.  I will need help with the invitational skills.  I will ask Matt Goslet for help and ideas of how we can write a pitch for the event to send out.  I only want it to be for UNCW Digital Arts.  The other skills are needed are posters and an email graphic of the poster, just like we did for the call for entries.  Website skills are also needed.
7.  Resources:  I will need help from Kyle to make the Art.  I will need help from Matt Goslet to get the format of the call for entries for the digital arts emails ready.  I will need help from Channing on putting it on the site.  
8.  Team- Me:  If this gets supported for the preparation.
1. Channing and Jaime for the website
2. Kyle for the posters.
3. Other member of the Art Program for the digital art design for the website
4. Matt Goslet for his expertness in call for entries. 
9.  Schedule
1. 2-1-14:  Email out and post posters and begin the Call for Entries
2. 2-10-14: Email Fallow up for departments.  
3. 3-15-14: Final day to submit
4. 3-18-14:  Announce Winners
5. 3-21-14:  Confirm Winners
10.  Risks:  This could be a huge risk if we do not have any turnout or submissions.  From when I talked to Eric Patterson he said this would be huge for the Computer Science and the Digital Arts departments.  They wanted a way to show their students work to the public and this was an awesome idea he said.  I feel we will have a good turnout of submissions.   
11. I will communicate with the team through Facebook.  We are all friends on Facebook and can message and set up meetings for this project. 
12. Success or Fail?   If no one submits this will be a fail.  Or if no bumpers are good enough to be shown it will be a fail.  If we get several great bumpers for the event then this will be a huge success that will help take some of the work load off of the Art Department.  

Volunteer Project

Identify the "What"

1. What is the project supposed to achieve?
1. The project is supposed to achieve a large number of volunteers for the day of the Visions Film festival and Conference.  The goal is to use Flicker for video the day of the event to help in the filming, and use the UNCW Photography Club as a Sponsor/ Volunteer to help shoot stills the day of the festival including the After Party.
2. Who is the customer?  The customers will be Visions Film Festival and Conference and FST 451.  We will be able to use them for our support the day of the festival in order to receive better video and photography during the day of the event without having people form class do this.  This will allow us to have more people working the event making it less stressful the day of the event.
3. What are the Deliverables of the Project?  The Tangibles for the project will be that we will have more coverage the day of the event.  If we can get volunteers on the cameras on at least 3 main cameras and a floating camera the day of the event with the PR department doing the interviews it will allow us to have more footage for the DVD and the Archive.  For the photography aspect we will have more photos for the website and the social media outlets the class is using.
4. Identifying the "How" with Budget:  The expenses for the volunteers can range depending on how we want to sale the event.  If we could offer a T-Shirt and Badge for all the volunteers for the day of the festival it would really make it exciting for their time.  We must also consider food.  If we agree to feed them with the filmmakers and invite them to the after party(which we will need to) then the price for the amount of food will go up.  All of this will depend on the price quota's for T-shirts, Badges, and Food.
5. How long will it take?  I feel this project will take about a Month.  I want to start the project in early January  right as we get back and start to run.  I will go and meet with the heads of Flicker and the Photography club right as the semester begins.
6. What skills are needed?  The skills needed for me would be to schedule the dates and times for the appointments with the two clubs.  Then it will be to schedule the persons for their shifts and to make a schedule for the rest of the volunteers.  
7. Special Resources needed?  I will need web support from Channing to make a page on the site for people to go and volunteer and have all the information sent to me.  I will also need a video that I can make to show them some of the films that will be going on as well as photos from the last After Party.   I will also need small posters to bring with me to the meetings to pitch the project to the clubs.
8. Who is working this Project?  Chris Keefe 
9. Schedule
1. 2-1-14:   Begin pitching to Clubs
2. 2-15-14  Have website announce new page and looking for volunteers 
3. 2-21-14:  Have list of volunteers started
4. 3-15-14: Have schedule for  rough idea of placement of camera's and crew for cameras.  Plan shifts for volunteers so they are not there all day.
5. 4-1-14: Have master schedule for day of event with all volunteers and backup plans for disasters and alternatives.  
10. Game of Risk?
1. Risks:  This is a small risk in that we could have a lazy person on the camera who is not really wanting to be there.  We could also have a bad far shot like we did last year if the camera operator is not up to par.   We could also have cameras that do not work well or do not live up to their wonderful brand names the day of the event.   
11. Communication?  I will work with my team when they come to the class.  I will establish the best way to communicate by Facebook as well as with cell phones.  Everyone will have everyones numbers and I will hold weekly meetings.
12. Success or Fail?  If we have no volunteers then it will be a fail.  If we have so many volunteers that we do not have jobs for them then it will be a success.  

DVD Quiz Blog

The main thing I have learned is that no matter if you send the invites to the same schools, you will get different and better results.  One of the biggest difference I noticed is the difference between the films that were selected and the Conference panels that were selected.  The voice of each of the years differently showed.  The 2013 DVD films were a little more professional and it had a vibe all of its own.  The 2012 DVD had more of an artistic feel to it.  The menu's of each DVD also told about the class.  The 2012 DVD had a very artistic and college look with the film reel, which I liked.  The DVD menu's for 2013 looked more professional and more precise.  I felt the Conference panels were edited better in 2012, where the panels seemed to have much more of a contemporary feel.  I feel that My Name is Khan showed this the best.  I felt the 2013 DVD Conference panel's were older meteral and less contemporary.  

Since my Last Blog what I have been Up TOO

I have been working on the website every other night since I was assigned a due date for the website to be live.  I felt I was making good progress and spent 3 hours 2x a week working on the webpage cleaning it up and reformatting the whole site.  The site has been handed over to Channing duke and I have not been able to work on it since.  I spent 4 hours at the edit lab last night making the DVD.  I am still missing 2 films.  I am having to go through and find the films.  I will input time for how long that takes later.

Managing Work

Managing work is something that I really truly struggle with.  I have the pressures of this class, the Army Reserves, and owning a home and planning a wedding.  I also try to deal with Mental Health dealing with PTSD so my managing work flow is really crammed pack.  The most important for me is to stay organized.  I do my best to keep things organized and clean.  I do my best to take 30 minutes out of my day to stay organized but cannot do it every day.  The second thing I can do is plan ahead to have no time to myself.  By making a  webpage from scratch I think that I need to take 4 hours out of 2 nights a week to make this happen.  I have tried to make contact with Eric Patterson 4 times and no results back.  The Avoid overload section I cannot avoid.  I have way to much on my plate and more getting piled on with this class.  I will do my best to keep my plate clear from anything else than visions for the future.  For practicing study techniques I get A's on my test and quizzes so I will continue to study how I am.  I try to have a flexible schedule and make everything else in my world revolve around visions.  The U.S. Army Reserves does not seem to care and will not let me reschedule training when I have important stuff to do for visions.  I have paid for the 270 dollar pass and am not allowed to miss drill that weekend from friday to sunday of that weekend.  Cocalorus has been nice enough to let my pass drag over to next year.  For the have a visions, i feel I came into this semester with a wanting to change the festival  for the better.  I feel that us not having the juror sponsor really hurt that visions, and not allowing the class to talk about it.  I want to make this festival huge and I have visions but they have been brushed off or so it seems.  I will work on having a smaller vision for the festival so we do not get to big to fast.

This Week so Far

During this last week I have had a meeting with my group minus matt herzog.  I just gave my guys an idea on what was on the horizon.  I have also spent about 2 hours looking into webpages display and webpage.  I have been stalking other film festival sites and trying to find things to steal design way.  I have also went back and looked at the list that I created in class at what people liked and did not like about their own festival pages.  I will be out of town this weekend so I will not have internet ability where I will be for Drill unless they put me in a hotel room.  So if I do not respond till monday that is why.  I have spent an hour looking at our schedule tonight looking at possible deadlines for pr and kyles art.  I have also tried to plan how to involve everyone.

Quiz

What did you find the most interesting when comparing the festival research.  The main part that I found interesting was reading over the different festivals.  How they are ran differently but still have the same level of interest from people in the community.  I had never heard of the Angelus film festival before this week and looking into my research it is one of the most popular film festivals along with Sundance, Austin, and Humboldt.  I also found it very interesting that Humboldt is ran by Undergraduates and that Angelus is for undergraduates but ran by people who are not undergraduates.  I see that Humboldt gives the students a way to learn how to work for a festival and that Angelus will allow students to get noticed by Hollywood personal who work or are a part of the industry.

I found the most interesting sponsor ideas from other festivals comparing them to our's is the amount of sponsors we need.  Monika told me that the reason the Angelus film festival is not happening this year is due to the main sponsor pulling out due to financial and economical reasons.  I feel that we need to gain more and have backups to all of our sponsors.  By saying this I also mean that we need to as she said reach for the stars and the worse they can do is say no.  I looked at several of the sponsor ship pages and they all have big names that I am sure like Fuji Film and local industry work departments that lend support to festivals.

My Interview with Monika Moreno

1.How many entries did they get this year? For films make sure to ask them to distinguish between features and shorts.  

Under 600 all shorts under 90 mins.  Doc, animation, narrative. 

2.How many films do they aim to screen each year? 1 evening screen 15 finalist in one night.  Next day show runners up total of 30 films or less.  Other events during the year to screen other films. How many papers/presentations do they accept? Again, for films make sure to ask them to distinguish between features and shorts.

3.What is their pre-screening process? How many pre-screeners do they have each year?  Who is typically chosen as a pre-screener?

Films are mailed in.  They are stripped of any nice artwork so they will all look alike.  They do this so the screeners will not be able to judge based on school or fancy artwork. The first round is done by knowledgeable students or persons in the lower ring of the Hollywood industry ladder that includes film makers, actors, producers, editors.  They mix the male and female number of viewers in order to obtain a fair voting.  Some movies will get a larger male vote and others larger female vote because of the subject matter of the film.   Each film is seen by 3 people groups and multiple groups. 2^nd round the jurors are people who are more entrenched in industry.  Top 10 percent left will be sent to the final round.  During the first two process they numbers decrease from about   600 to 60 total films.  Jury for finalist must be in the industry to be a juror for the final films.

4.How do they score entries? Do they use a scoring template/rubric?   They use a scoring guideline for the first round of films.  They are rated on such topics such as directing, editing, etc…  They are also graded on how well they fit the scene or theme of the festival.  The second rounds of entries are scored very detailed. In order to be a juror for the second round of rubric’s they must be in the industry and have screened at other festivals. 

5.Do you have a jury after the pre-screening process has ended? The jury for the Angelus film festival has a jury template.  The heads of the Angelus film festival also watch the films.  The templates are used to help refer back to films and notes.

6.How far in advance do they send out their call for entries? How do entries typically roll in? Early? 
Late? In waves? Early enrollments 35 May 1^st-Jan. Regular entries 45 by June 1^st.  late 55-65 by July  first. 

7.How many paid employees do they have each year? How many volunteers? 2 full time employees.  4 part time.  Interns 2-3. 

8.Do you use specific programming, trafficking, budgeting software? Do you like it?  Withoutabox is a godsend and something every festival should use.

9.What community outreach do you do outside of your festival season to keep your event on the 
public's radar and/or to raise funds? (Workshops, mini-festivals, fundraiser dinners, etc.) Angelus works very hard to keep track of past winners of the festival.  They do this in order to gain support for the film maker and use them in the future.  They get previous winners together in order to raise public awareness of the festival including dinners and lunch ins.  They also take select winners to Sundance film festival in order see other films and to help them make contacts in the industry that they can use in the future on upcoming works.  The last four years they have had sponsors that have enabled them to take filmmakers abroad to London and Czech Republic for festivals.    Last 4 years sponsors to help take filmmakers abroad, London, chech.  They also do smaller screenings around the states and involve local festivals.  Screenings around states.  Involve in local festivals to help gain support of their own festivals.  . 

10.         Do you give out swag bags to visiting filmmakers? Presenters? Guests? If so, what type of items 
do you include in those bags? Yes.  Contact industry groups.  Contact Final Draft.  Screen Writer software.  Contact ASAP for us.    T-shirts to magazines subscriptions also given away. 

11.         Do presenter/filmmaker pay registration to attend?

NO directors and makers do not pay.  After party invitation only for staff and filmmakers, sponsors( We need to start doing more of this).

12.         Are you able to provide presenters/filmmakers with funds to cover travel or lodging?

When we can.  Sponsors normally give stipends.  Check airfares.   Pick them up from airport and help them out.

13.         What "perks" do your filmmakers/scholars enjoy at your festival/conference? What else do you 
encourage them to do while they're in town? m(Free dinners, tours, exclusive activities...in Wilm, 
we'd try to take them to the beach, Screen Gems tour, etc.)

Van ride of town.  Fuji Film, tour of Hannah Visions and  Warner Brothers Studio’s tour in past.  Hawaiian appetizers night before festival for all film makers to meet and get comfortable with each other.  Once winners are announced in August they hold a finalist lunch in.  Nice restaurant.  Announce on twitter.  Monika is a big supporter of using Facebook and twitter for alumni of the festival also invited to the lunch in.  It is great to at this time to interview the filmmakers and post the interview online.  We must have an alumni page on Facebook to keep this festival growing.

14.         Do you have special donor perks during the event? Or how do you thank them?   Special place for them at reception.  VIP treatment.  Keep it going during the year.  Give them VIP tickets to festivals or pass’s to visions.  Give them ad on program.  Or on website. 

15.         What do they wish they had done differently or better when they were first starting out? What do 
you wish you knew then that you know now?   Involve more and get more sponsors.  Don’t get complacent with just a few.  Make each year different.  Live music.  Add something more each year.   After festival debrief with staff and sponsors. 

16.         If it’s a festival or conference that no longer is in existence...why did it end? Economics. 

The main sponsor of the festival had to back out due to economics’ at the time. 

17.         Any other ideas or advice that we haven’t thought to ask about? Don’t have fear for asking celebs or anyone high in the industry for help.  They will love to help student film makers anyway they can.  Have celeb jurors, and invite them to the festival.  They will most likely come and be honored judge and be invited to the festival.  They will come just being asked.  Just ask Hollywood for help.  They are open to helping student filmmakers.  Get an outside perceptive from people.  Jurying will attract students.  One year HBO selected the winners.  Internaltional Documentary Association to ask for a juror for the documentary films at our festival.  Animation students, try to find an animation studio’s or giant in the industry to be a judge or juror for the process.  This will attract participants if they know a star or giant in the industry is watching the films.  Know how much time it will take, when the films will be to them, when you need it back to the exact date, they are very busy but willing.  We need to create a feed lapse email announcing when and any small details about our festival so everyone is constantly reminded of the festival. PR department.  Make list of indie film sites online and post all of our call for entries on them as well.    Post on those sites.  Winners take pic and link sponsor information.  Send to all prior and everyone on the mailing list. 

For our website she said if we want a really good website try to contact a film poster creator or someone who is a movie art person to make a poster.  She thinks the contest idea that I had about branching out to the digital arts departments to create bumpers before films is an amazing idea.   

Film Fest Part 1 Angelus Film Festival

1. What time is your interview scheduled and who will you be talking with when you call/skype?  1130 am Monday 9-16-13.
   
2. Who started it and who runs it?  the festival is not being run right now. 
    Monika Moreno is the Director, Lance Spott is the A.D. of the festival when it is running.  
   
3. What is the mission of the festival/conference? (copy and paste the first paragraph)
   
   
   Our philosophy is simple—We are a not-for-profit student film festival bent on finding the best, and showcasing it to the world. We believe if you are that good of a filmmaker, you deserve a career and a leg up, and as wide of an audience as possible.
   After 16 years, we have a knack for finding talent and Hollywood’s noticed. Winners receive ṻber visibility, select winners receive an all expense paid trip to Sundance and/or Europe for Angelus international and gobs of publicity. Not only are we fun to travel with, our wonderful sponsors believe in you enough to dole out fabulous cash awards and amazing prizes.
   We keep the entry fee low, and communicate after each round and as often as possible because your time, your money and your project is valuable.
   Our passion is the independent voice that focuses on the human journey. Do it with drama, laughs, with documentary or animation – just do it with excellence. It gets us up in the morning.
   
   
4. How does this compare with their actual programming choices from the past two years? Be specific in describing what they program (mode, categories within mode, niche, Political? Global? Local? Gender? Sexuality? Race? Any themes that you see? etc...)
   
   

   The main theme that I see based off of the winners of the festivals is about the journey.  The prizes they give is trips to other festivals to help other film makers complete their journey.  

   
   
5. Where is the event? 
   
   

    Los Angelus

   
   
6. When is the event? (Give dates from last year if not current)
   
   

    Sept. 29,2012

   
   
7. How do you submit? Snail mail, online, withoutabox, through their site, etc...
   
   

   The ways I have found that people have submitted in the past is by DVD, VHS or any other format they can send and mail into the festival.  You can get your films, tapes back if you send in a self addressed envelope.  

   
   
   

   
   

   
   
8. When are the deadlines to enter? Early? Reg? Late?
   
   

   July, 15th 2012 is the only deadline I have been able to find for 2012

   
   
9. How much does it cost to enter? 
   
   

   35-45 dollars

   
   
10. Who’s eligible, what are the guidelines to enter?
     Any undergraduate from around the world.  If the film is not in english then it must be dubbed in english
    
11. Is there a Student category? 
    
    

     Every film is undergraduate or graduate film school work.

    
    
12. What formats do they except for jurying? DVD, Vimeo, Flash drives?
    
    

    DGA are Beta SP, 35mm, or DigiBeta. if selected, DVD, VHS

    
    
13. What formats do they except for exhibition/screening?
    DGA are Beta SP, 35mm, or DigiBeta. if selected
    
14. How many films screened at the festival last year?
    
    

    I have not been able to find an exact number of films shown at the festival in 2012,  It is a question I will ask Monika tomorrow.

    
    
15. How long is a typical shorts block or paper presentation block at their event?
    
    

    The numbers vary from year to year, but in a typically we receive well over 500 shorts a year, from over 100 film schools and over 20 countries.

    
    
16. How many films or papers do they program per block?
    
    

    I have not been able to find the information about the blocks.  

    
    
17. How do people register to attend? Is there a cost to attend as a guest?
    
    

    I called the 800 number and the person who answered the phone on friday did not know how much the festival cost.  She is going to email me the information when she can ask her boss this week.

    
    
18. Look at sponsorship page and see what businesses. Grants and private entities give money to the
    event. Figure out how many of each kind and note any leads that might be useful to us.
    
    

    Outstanding Animation Award, sponsored by Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals. $2,000

    Full Circle Exchange Wake up to Justice Award. $2500

    Fujifilm Audience Impact Award $2,500

    Triumph of the Spirit Award, sponsored by the Peter Glenville Foundation. $5,000

    Excellence in Filmmaking Award in honor of Fr. Patrick Peyton, CSC. $10,000

    
    
    
    
19. What are their sponsorship levels and incentives for each level?
    
    

    The Angelus Student Film Festival draws entries from graduate and undergraduate students of film from around the world and was recently honored with the world-wide distinction as one of the “25 Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” by MovieMaker Magazine and included in its previous “Best of” issue as “Best Bet for Student Moviemakers.” Each year during the Angelus Student Film Festival, the future of the film industry gathers to showcase their films of artistic excellence that reflect human dignity. With over 500 entries annually from some 185 film schools in over 30 countries, the Angelus Student Film Festival draws a diverse, passionate audience of college students and those working in all areas of the film industry.
    

    Impact

    • Event visibility with both logo placement and organization messaging before celebrities, future filmmakers, industry executives, and the media
    • Brand placement in advertising before relevant consumers
    • Brand placement on college campuses in more than 30 countries before future filmmakers as well as the entire campus population
    • Media placement in national and industry publications
    • Brand placement in online Festival Guide – potential for tens of thousands of viewers
    • Brand placement in email blast sent to 5,000 relevant consumers
    • Online exposure through the Festival website as well as industry sites
    • Brand placement on Festival social media sites
    • Hospitality opportunities for your VIP clients

    Reach

    • Target thousands of future leaders of the film industry in a relevant and meaningful promotion
    • Through your sponsorship you will not only reach consumers, you will reach students who are potential employees for your organization

    Industry celebrities such as Gary Oldman, Sean Astin, and Jim Caviezel support Family Theater Productions’ Angelus Student Film Festival. Join us as we encourage the best and brightest future film directors and actors to produce quality films that promote compassion, creativity and respect. Many Angelus winners have continued in their careers and received industry recognition, including Academy Awards

    I found that the best I could find for prior endorsements in order to make people submit to their festivals.  I feel we need to see if any of our past viewers has made it into the big time so we can use them as a perch to support and interest people in our festival.
    
    
20. Did they have a kickstarter or indiegogo? What incentives did they have for each level of donor?
    I have not found any kickstarter or indeiegogo for the festival.  I have search for prior  information with no luck.  I will ask Monika about this.
    
21. What kind of non-traditional film/video events have they had before? Things like Installations,
    'Visual Soundwalls,' VJing etc.
    
    

    The crew of Angelus traveled to almost every other big name festival from Sundance, London, Cannes.  I think this all helped gain them sponsorships and money from donors to use as prizes.  

    
    
22. Are there ways in which they have expanded the typical film screening event? How have they
    branched out from sitting in a dark room in front of a screen?

    From What I have found out.  They used a main theater to show the films.  They do use a bunch of community events in order to keep the community involved in the festival.  I am wondering why the festival stopped.  

    
    
    23. Is the layout easy to navigate? What makes it easy?

    
    

    I personally really like the website.  I feel that it is very neatly organized and is kept very clean, but very cool looking.   

    24. Is the layout difficult to navigate? What makes it difficult?
    
    

    I think the layout is very easy to navigate.  With in 1 minute I could think of what I needed to get to and find it on the site.  I would like to find out who their webpage design person is and what website creator they used.  

    25. Can you find the information you are looking for on the homepage or via a link on the homepage? 26. Aesthetically, what catches your eye? What's cool about it?
    
    

    I think the color of the website is the first thing that drew me to the site.  I love the Angelus hand at the top of the screen.  I also love how that background never changed as you click on the links at the top.  I feel they are very easy and makes me as a college student say this is a festival that I want to submit to.  I feel that it is something we need to do to our page. 

    
    27. Aesthetically, what doesn't fit in? What makes it look bad?
    
    

    The only thing I could find out that makes it look bad was that it still has the stand by submissions for the next year festival that is not happening.

    28. Should there be more information? Is the page too bare?
    
    

    NO..... I feel the page is not information overload and it has the necessary information.  

    29. Should there be less information? Is the page too busy?
    
    

    The website in my opinion is perfect.  I like how it is edgy.  It is not to busy but it is not bare either.  It has the prefect mix of information and creative design.

    30. What would you do differently if you were to redesign this website?
    
    
    

    If I were to redesign the website I would only create an archive tab with links to different years of the festivals.  I think it would be good for us if we had a drop down menu that was 2012 festival, 2011, 2010 etc...

    
    
    31. What would you keep the same if you were to redesign this website? 

    I would keep the main image and layout of the website.  I would only create an archive drop down for people to see the past festivals.  I would also have left up the last years schedule and blocks so film makers can see what types of films have been submitted and allow them to see if their films would fit into what has been selected.  

    
    http://www.angelus.org/about-introduction.html